Born October 26, 1946 in Braunschweig, Germany.
Professor of Theoretical Chemistry, Heidelberg University, Germany.
Cederbaum is particularly proud of having opened up new directions of research and of having discovered new basic phenomena. Among others, the following should be mentioned: The physics and chemistry of inner-valence electrons, in particular the breakdown of the molecular orbital picture of ionization, which has turned out to be a common phenomenon in molecules, adsorbates, and clusters; the intermolecular Coulombic decay in environment, which has been by now verified by many exciting experiments and became a blooming filed of research; the impact of conical and other intersections of potential energy surfaces on non-adiabatic dynamics, which is of general importance for excited states of polyatomics; the prediction and chemistry of multiply-charged anions (the ones predicted have been found experimentally); the classical diffusion and giant-dipole quantum states of the hydrogen atom in crossed fields; the screening of the magnetic field at the nuclei by the electrons; the appearance of light-induced conical intersections, which can be exploited to control reactions; ultrafast electron dynamics, in particular, charge migrations driven by electron correlation. Very fruitful collaborations with members of his research group and others are gratefully acknowledged.